The End

I recently published my first edited book,  Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology ,  with  Small Harbor Publishing . It's an anthology of writing from  Literary Mama  staff over the past 20 years. It's a beautiful collection and I am proud of the writers and proud to share the book.  It seems a fitting moment, as I pondered sharing about the book here on the blog, to reflect on my life as a blogger, and acknowledge that it is time to officially end this blog.   I started blogging in about 2007, when my baby was learning to toddle, when I was learning how to be a mother and stepmother, when I was just starting to see my way as a writer. I needed it back then. I craved it. I had a variety of blog iterations--family, art, creativity, writing things I delved into. There's a freedom in blogging, a casualness, an easy familiarity that's lacking (for me anyway) in other kinds of writing. I loved blogging and the words came pouring out.  Over the years since then, some
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National Gallery of Writing

Yesterday was the National Day on Writing.  Today I dug a little deeper into the website of the National Council of Teachers of English.  I discovered that these english writing buffs have a rather large and extensive National Gallery of Writing.  Which showcases writing from anyone and everyone who want to submit a work.  It is a Gallery; meant to be a collection of work from all kinds of people, all ages, races, genders, and cultures. You can find a piece by a 3rd grader about dogs, or a masterful literary poem about the meaning of death. You can read works from smaller local groups who have started their own galleries, or browse the works of people from all over the country.

It is an amazing collection. And a really sharp reminder that we all can, and do write. Words are not only for the published authors, the worldly novelists, the rich and famous.  Children write fabulous creative stories for their school work.  Adults write poems and essays for their families.  And we all write emails, texts, tweets, and notes every day. We need to write, whether in purposeful dedications, jubliant celebrations, or sorrowful mournings. We need words.

Check out the gallery to see what your fellow Americans are writing. Or capture a small moment in time and cinsider submitting a work yourself- and get catalogued in with the rest of the great writers of our world. Think about it.

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